Oru Mexican Aparatha Review - A Leftist's Delight, Not So Much for Everyone Else

Sethumadhavan

Tom Emmatty’s Oru Mexican Aparatha is a film that doesn’t really hide its intentions behind any façade. Be it the posters, the promos or the songs, everything signalled the intention of the director very clearly. As the film begins we are greeted by a brief voiceover & some visuals which convey in a striking fashion as to why communism and Kerala share a deep rooted bond between themselves. It is the year 1975, the whole country is in a state of Emergency and it applies to Kerala as well. The college campuses back then gave way to space for a lot of political action, with education taking a backseat. Maharaja’s College in Kochi is given a strong leftist flavour thanks to the spirited presence of the fiery youth leader of the SFY, Kochaniyan. Unfortunately Kochaniyan meets a grisly end and with that SFY loses its momentum, allowing its competitor KSQ to rule the roost over the years.

With this introduction over we get to see that time has leap frogged to the early 2000’s and the setting continues to be Maharaja’s College which continues to be a hotbed of student politics. It’s a one sided battle though, with KSQ continuing to be at the forefront and SFY being reduced nearly to a non-entity. While the KSQ battalion on campus is led by Roopesh (Roopesh Peethambaran), a student leader who enjoys being in control of proceedings, the SFY fortunes (or any indication of the same) rests in the hands of Subhash (Neeraj Madhav). Subhash’s companions are Paul (Tovino Thomas) and Jomey (Vishnu Govindan), the former being a good looking Romeo who falls for the charms of Anu (Gayathri Suresh) and the latter being the funny man among the trio. Amidst a lot of camaraderie, pranks, banter among friends, clashes between the SFY and KSQ we witness a mostly fun first half. The momentum shifts gears in the second half as Paul finds himself unexpectedly getting thrown into the middle of the political fracas on campus.

Tom Emmatty and writer Jude Anthany Joseph set up the base in the first half, but make sure that the proceedings are kept fairly balanced and with a fair bit of fun moments thrown in. In fact the first half sort of reminds you of both Classmates (2006) and Premam (2015), the former for the politics on campus and the latter for the fun element. I quite chuckled during the scene where a chemistry professor wants his students to tell him what the IUPAC name of laughing gas is, also when Subhash makes Jomey realize that he’s been studying the wrong subject. But there is a clear shift in the tone of the second half, there is a sense of urgency and seriousness drafted into the tale, so much so that the focus is mainly restricted to Subhash, Paul and Roopesh and their actions. Tom and Jude do not make any attempt to mask the political leaning that the film is trying to adopt, there is clearly an attempt to pass off the left wing SFY (alluding to SFI, the actual student outfit of the CPI (M) as the positive force which is struggling against the more dominant KSQ (alluding to KSU, the real student outfit of the Congress in Kerala).

I quite chuckled during the scene where a chemistry professor wants his students to tell him what the IUPAC name of laughing gas is or when Subhash makes Jomey realize that he’s been studying the wrong subject. There is of course nothing wrong in taking sides, even in politics; just that when it gets a little too one sided for comfort it looks a little discomforting. There’s also an attempt at doing a Rang De Basanti of sorts as we see Paul metamorphose into Kochaniyan or at least get influenced by the so called legendary figure on campus. There is a riot of red that’s unfurled on screen, the film begins and ends with the same in fact. The culmination is a tad too violent but it’s been shot exquisitely by DOP Prakash Velayudhan, making you ignore everything else as you soak into the stylish visuals on screen. The songs by Manikandan Iyyappan and Renjith Chittade are perfectly reflective of the mood of the film.

Gayathri Suresh does not get much scope in the film, her portions in the second half being restricted to the one off moment where she is rebuffed by Paul as she tried to talk to him, apart from watching him from the sidelines as he goes about his election campaign. Roopesh Peethambaran is quite a delight as the firebrand student leader who is clearly a tough one to appease.  Neeraj Madhav is excellent as Subhash, pulling off the emotional as well as fun moments with considerable ease. Tovino Thomas clearly seems to be having quite a fan following now, as seen by the crowd’s response during my show and films like Oru Mexican Aparatha certainly will aid in enhancing his stardom. Overall it’s a film that should appeal to the leftists, as for the others well it has its moments that make it worth watching indeed.

Bottomline:

Tom Emmatty and Jude Anthany Joseph have come up with a film that should delight the leftists, though the others might wonder what the fuss is all about. Technically well-made and with strong performances from the principal cast, the film makes for an interesting watch mostly.

Rating: 3/5